Nice strawman. You're not an asshole if you eat a steak every now and then. You're an asshole if you don't look at alternatives even though they're available to you and you can afford them just because you love your steaks too much - regardless of what "those who pollute the most" do.
We would already be much further ahead if everyone could and would eat meat only "every now and then".
The fact that I can see greater assholes than I could ever manage to be whenever I turn on the TV does not mean I get a ticket to be a tiny asshole. It doesn't matter what others do when we're evaluating your behaviour.
I can't influence "those who pollute the most" alone, and a society full of people who don't care themselves won't have a tiniest chance of influencing them either.
> You're an asshole if you don't look at alternatives even though they're available to you and you can afford them just because you love your steaks too much
TIL I’m an asshole because I love and eat steak even though I can afford plant based alternatives that I have zero desire to eat because of how processed they are.
Glad you realized that, it's the necessary first step towards positive change. /s
See, that's a good example of why simply getting angry at the hypocritical richest will lead nowhere, as long as what they do is still socially acceptable at smaller scales. People who would do the exact same thing at their place won't succeed in fighting them.
I just don’t think it’s a binary equation because there is simply not a steak substitute that is fully natural in origin. I won’t eat plant based alternatives to meat because I would rather have a natural foodstuff then an unnatural one and frankly every one I have tried that was touted to be great…sucked.
That said, I’d consider the criticism valid if there was a fully natural product that was a reasonable substitute for a steak that had a better ratio for our planet’s stewardship. Say the discovery of some fungus that on its own and with similar preparation that can act as a steak alternative. If I was opting for steak over that with taste and price being equal, sure criticize away.
Who does? It's obviously non-binary. What matters is how selfish your choices end up being.
At decision making level, there's little difference between "I'm eating loads of meat cause plant-based steaks are too processed" and "I'm traveling by private jet cause other forms of transportation make me lose too much time". There's no alternative way to travel this fast and convenient.
There is a major difference—I am not trying to justify hypocrisy. I am not going around creating public policy and commanding and preaching to others not to eat steak while eating it myself. If anything, I encourage people to eat steak.
If that still makes me an asshole…so be it. “Asshole” is always arbitrary, hypocrisy is always evident.
These actions are harmful regardless of whether you're being a hypocrite about them or not.
In fact, from an utilitarian point of view, being a hypocrite may actually be less harmful, since you may still influence others to do better. I'm not exactly an utilitarian myself, but that's one possible way to judge.
Sure, as is one possible way for me to judge that judgement is that folks will excuse and explain away all sorts of bad behaviors of the people that they identify as allies to a specific cause they support. Doesn’t make them right, it just makes them assholes…at least from my POV.
If you want a cleaner planet, start with those who pollute the most, and then go down towards stuff normal people do and use.
[0] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2021/11/02/revealed-a...